Date of Award

Spring 5-15-2013

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts (BA)

Department

Theatre

College

College of Humanities and Fine Arts

First Advisor

Gwendolyn Schwinke

Abstract/Description

As a senior in high school, I only had one thing I knew I wanted to do with my life. Theatre was my passion and had been for many years. I had elected to attend art-focused schools since middle school and truly felt at home in artistic communities. At the time, I just needed an in-state school; I assumed that I would have to go to graduate school to really pursue my specific passion of physical theatre. Yet I am now in Tuscany, Italy, experiencing the epitome of my scholastic career by creating a piece of physical theatre for myself so that I can graduate with the only undergraduate BFA for Physical Theatre degree in America. How did I get here? Commedia dell'arte and physical theatre are not familiar concepts to the average person. I am constantly being asked what they are, and I have spent a lot of time trying to explain my major and what I love to do. These ideas must be seen or experienced to truly be understood. No words are sufficient to communicate the ideas I plan to communicate through practical application of the art form. Thus, my final presentation, which is a companion piece to this thesis, will be my definition of physical theatre, a performance in Tuscany that will express what cannot adequately express in words.

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